Dana 44 Wheel Bearing Race Spun in Housing???

I am putting 4.56s in my TJ. Got the front done with no issues and I move to the rear end. It has the Dana 44. I get the gears set up no problem. Start to put the piece back together and I planned on fixing the leaky wheel seal and putting in a new wheel bearing. I go to pull the race out of the housing with a slide hammer and the bearing race falls out. So I guess that is the culprit for the toasted seal. The new race slides in by hand. With my caliper it looks like it is about 2 to 4 thousands spun out. So anyone have ideas on the remedy?

A few suggestions from experienced friends are:

1. Have whistler bearing see if they can get me a slightly larger race that would be compatable with the bearing

2. Glue the race in with some sort of block glue

3. Weld some small beads on the surface in the housing, grind it down until the race fits good

4. Maks some knurles in the housing with a punch to give the race something to grab onto.

5. Heat the housing with a torch until it is cherry red, let it cool. Maybe it will shrink down enough to fit...


Does anyone have experience with any of these ideas? Which one would you reccomend? I am not too fond of getting the axle retubed!

Thanks in advance!

Get a long feeler guage the thickness required to make a snug fit,cut to length & install it in to the tube first. Then fit the race useing a bearing mounting compound. The race wont move!

mattyj said:

Get a long feeler guage the thickness required to make a snug fit,cut to length & install it in to the tube first. Then fit the race useing a bearing mounting compound. The race wont move!

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I think the red loctite actually say stud and bearing mount, that is the stuff you want...

You could knurle it too, but Matty's way works also. Either way use red loctite.

Justin

Thanks for the help fellas. However I am felling a bit stupid right now. For kicks, I went out and checked the other race. It is not press fit either. It falls out in my hand too. I think I was a little confused on how this works. I thought they were pressed in... maybe not? Maybe I am a freak of a hypochondriac when it comes to the jeep. The original side is somewhat scored like it was spinning, but nothing at all to be concerned about if it is not a press fit.

What a moron I am eh? I need to put the thing together and go wheeling! I was ready to build an 8.8 for it and chuck the 44! 4 days on setting up the gears may be too much. I am seeing gear patterns in my sleep.

Yep, they all fall out like that......but you can save those tricks for some other spun bore......I like the punch and red loctite trick.

JXPEEJ said:

Yep, they all fall out like that......but you can save those tricks for some other spun bore......I like the punch and red loctite trick.

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No they dont or shouldn't!But,one of the best ways Ive seen to fix this is a full weld on the outside of the housing!

I know this is an old thread, but i have a situation that requires it to be reborn!! I'm having the same issue, so have there been any breakthroughs with getting this issue fixed? How do you weld the hardened race to the softer housing, and does it hold up?? Any advise would be helpful guys!! Much thanks!!

COSXJFAN said:

I know this is an old thread, but i have a situation that requires it to be reborn!! I'm having the same issue, so have there been any breakthroughs with getting this issue fixed? How do you weld the hardened race to the softer housing, and does it hold up?? Any advise would be helpful guys!! Much thanks!!

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You can buy shim stock from a machine shop supply, maybe even grainger. Install it using the "Green" Stud and bearing loctite. It won't come out.

Thanks for the input!! The farther my guy gets into this axle, the more BS is coming up. Now we are checking to make sure it's not bent, because there was black RTV at the axtube joint inside the diff housing. IIRC, that shouldn't be in there. If the axles was leaking from there at some point, then the housing could be bent.....POOOOP!!!:bs:

There was absolutely no issue with mine. It is not a press fit. I put it back together exactly like it came apart and it has been golden for a year and a half of mostly highway miles. No leaks, no noises, no burned diff oil. I wouldn't mess with it. I was used to working on c clip style axles which do have a pressed in outer race. My mistake!

COSXJ FAN- Who is doing your axle. There is only 1 guy in this town that you should pay to do any axle work imho. He is a little on the crazy side though...

Kirby N. said:

There was absolutely no issue with mine. It is not a press fit.

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x2, not a press fit

It should be snug, but it doesn't need to be pressed in. You should be able to pull it out with your fingers so long as it's not too gunked up.

Hmmm. What if the race does seem to be pressed in? I.E. *not* able to pull it out with your fingers....what's that mean? What's the fix there??

Kirby N. said:

There was absolutely no issue with mine. It is not a press fit. I put it back together exactly like it came apart and it has been golden for a year and a half of mostly highway miles. No leaks, no noises, no burned diff oil. I wouldn't mess with it. I was used to working on c clip style axles which do have a pressed in outer race. My mistake!

COSXJ FAN- Who is doing your axle. There is only 1 guy in this town that you should pay to do any axle work imho. He is a little on the crazy side though...

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That's good news!! I have a buddy that knows his stuff VERY well, and has set up a lot of Dana 44s, so I have a lot of confidence in his ability. I should clarify that this is for a freind of mine that is out of state, and I'm trying to make this happen for him while he is gone.

5spd_xj said:

Hmmm. What if the race does seem to be pressed in? I.E. *not* able to pull it out with your fingers....what's that mean? What's the fix there??

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A little gentle coaxing with a flat tip screwdriver can help. You should be able to catch the inner lip of the race with the tip of the screwdriver and pry it out. Just keep working your way around a little bit at a time. If you pry too far on one side it will bind up and you'll have to push it back in and start over. If you can't get it to move that way, I don't know... maybe a slide hammer with puller jaws?

I'll have to agree, neither of the races in mine were a press fit. No problems at all with them after over a year.

The guy that is doing the set up for us said that in all of the D44s he has done, he has never seen this. This is the first XJ D44, but I don't know that it would make a difference. He seems to think that it could be a very bad thing for the race to be loose in the axle tube. Is he over-reacting?? I just don't want my buddy to throw a bunch of money at this thing, and it fail in a month or two. So is this an acceptable issue with this axle, or should we try to do something else about it, if so, what?? I have read of folks knurling the housing, using a center punch to flare it in a couple of spots, and using metal set, or JB weld to hold it in place. All of these solutions sound like a band-aide over a bullet hole to me!! Thoughts??

I will chime in with some expierence from My 44. I just did the disc brake conversion on mine and I thought I would need a slide hammer to get the races out, but did not. They slide out with a little side to side wiggle.

With everything cleaned and ready for the new bearings and races they just slid right out.

Everything has been good to go since.

One thing though I did not use the seal 9912s seal autozone listed, I used napa seal 18731.

I've worked on 4 XJ D44's and none of them had a press fit with the wheel bearing races. You will be just fine.

If it has c-clips the bearings will be snug but not press fit. It is a good idea to thoroughly clean the housing where the bearing sits and use red loctite to prevent the outer race from spinning. Let the loctite cure for a few hours before filling the diff with oil.

Dana 44 are noturious for spinning races, Use lock-tight.